A body modifier convicted of manslaughter after a silicon snowflake he implanted into a young woman's hand became infected has lodged an all grounds appeal against his convictions and maximum 10-year jail term.
Brendan Leigh Russell, a 42-year-old Central Coast body modifier, was last year jailed for at least seven years and six months after Judge Helen Syme said he had shown no remorse, acceptance or responsibility for causing the woman's death and disfiguring two others, including a woman who had her genitals mutilated in Newcastle in 2015.
Judge Syme said Russell lacked the skills to perform sometimes illegal procedures in unhygienic circumstances and without the required anaesthetic or medical after-care.
Russell was considered a "god" by one of his victims when she had the implantation procedure done in his Central Coast parlour on March 20, 2017.
He later performed a second procedure on the woman, advised her against seeing a medical practitioner and she ultimately died from sepsis.
Russell was also found guilty of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm by performing a quasi-medical and "clearly dangerous" abdominoplasty or "tummy tuck" on a 38-year-old woman in November 2016.
An hour after the woman returned home she awoke in agonising pain and was bleeding profusely.
The judge found he likely pierced her abdominal wall while "showing off mid-procedure" when he implanted the scalpel back into the wound.
He was also convicted of mutilating a woman's genitals at a tattoo parlour in Newcastle West in 2015, during which Russell used a branding iron to burn off the woman's labia majora.
The trial was a landmark case into the underground scene of body modification in NSW and Russell is believed to be the first person in the industry prosecuted in Australia.
One of the issues the trial focused on was whether a person could consent to being subjected to grievous bodily harm, with the prosecution arguing it was not a defence to the charges.
The Newcastle Herald can now reveal Russell has lodged an all grounds appeal against the convictions and jail sentence after the matter was mentioned briefly in the Court of Criminal Appeal last week.
Lawyers for Russell said they had raised three grounds of appeal in relation to the maximum 10-year jail term and "invited the court to follow the developments in other jurisdictions such as New Zealand".
The appeal hearing is listed for a date in July. Russell is currently first eligible for parole in March, 2029.
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